Isai. xi. 6. our conversations; because except it hath so, it cannot clearly be maintained. Nothing can be more absurd in a disputant, than to pretend to demonstrate a truth as infallible, and at the same time to shew it impossible. And yet so doth every one who professeth faith in Christ already come, and liveth not according to that profession: for thereby he proveth, as far as he is able, that the true Christ is not yet come, at least that Jesus is not be. We sufficiently demonstrate to the Jews that our Saviour, who did and suffered so much, is the true Messias; but by our lives we recall our arguments, and strengthen their wilful opposition. For there was certainly a promise, that when Christ should come, the wolf should dwell with the lamb, and the leopard should lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child should lead them; that is, there should be so much love, unanimity, and brotherly kindness in the kingdom of Christ, that all ferity and inhumanity being laid aside, the most different natures and inclinations should come to the sweetest harmony and agreement. Whereas if we look upon ourselves, we must confess there was never more bitterness of spirit, more rancour of malice, more heat of contention, more manifest symptoms of envy, hatred, and all uncharitableness, than in those which make profession of the Christian faith. It was infallibly foretold, that when the law should go forth out of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, they should beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation should not lift up sword 102 against nation, neither should they learn war any more: whereas there is no other art so much studied, so much applauded, so violently asserted, not only as lawful, but as necessary. Look upon the face of Christendom, divided into several kingdoms and principalities: what are all these but so many public enemies, either exercising or designing war? The Church was not more famous, or did more increase by the first blood, which was shed in the primitive times through the external violence of ten persecutions, than now it is infamous, and declines, through constant violence, fraud, and rapine, through public engagements of the greatest empires in arms, through civil and intestine wars, and, lest any way of shedding Christian blood should be unassayed, even by masZech. xiii. 2. sacres. It was likewise prophesied of the days of the Messias, Isai. ii. 3, 4. that all idolatry should totally cease, that all false teachers should be cut off, and unclean spirits restrained. And can we think that the Jews, who really abhor the thoughts of worshipping an image, can ever be persuaded there is no idolatry committed in the Christian church? Or can we excuse ourselves in the least degree from the plague of the locusts of Egypt, the false teachers? Can so many schisms and sects. arise and spread, can so many heresies be acknowledged and countenanced, without false prophets and unclean spirits? If then we would return to the bond of true Christian love and charity, if we would appear true lovers of peace and tranquillity, if we would truly hate the abominations of idolatry, false doctrine, and heresy, let us often remember what we ever profess in our CREED, that Jesus is the Christ, that the kingdom of the Messias cannot consist with these impieties. 34. 39. Thirdly: the necessity of this belief appeareth, in respect of those offices which belong to Jesus, as he is the Christ. We must look upon him as upon the prophet anointed by God to preach the Gospel, that we may be incited to hear and embrace his doctrine. Though Moses and Elias be together with him in the mount, yet the voice from heaven speaketh of none but Jesus, Hear ye him. He is that Wisdom, Matt. xvii. 5. the delight of God, crying in the Proverbs, Blessed is the man Prov. viii. 30, that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. There is one thing needful, saith our Luke x. 42, Saviour, and Mary chose that good part, who sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. Which devout posture teacheth us, as a willingness to hear, so a readiness to obey: and the proper effect, which the belief of this prophetical office worketh in us, is our obedience of faith. We must farther consider him as our high-priest, that we may thereby add confidence to that obedience. For we have boldness to enter into the holiest by Heb. x. 19, the blood of Jesus; yea, having an high-priest over the house of God, we may draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith. And as this breedeth an adherence and assurance in us, so it requireth a resignation of us. For if Christ have redeemed us, we are his; if he died for us, it was that we should live to him; if we be bought with a price, we are no longer our own; but we must glorify God in our body, and in 1 Cor. vi. 23. our spirit, which are God's. Again, an apprehension of him as a King is necessary for the performance of our true and 21, 22. PEARSON. 13 Isai xvi. 1. 18, 20. entire allegiance to him. Send the lamb to the Ruler of the earth, do him homage, acknowledge him your King, shew yourselves faithful and obedient subjects. We can pretend, and he hath required, no less. As soon as he let the apostles Matt. xxviii understand, that all power was given unto him in heaven and in earth, he charged them to teach all nations, to observe all things whatsoever he commanded them. Can we imagine he Rom. xii. 1. should so strictly enjoin subjection to higher powers, the highest of whom are here below, and that he doth not expect Eph. i. 21, 20. exact obedience to him who is exalted far above all principalities and powers, and is set down at the right hand of God? It is observable, that in the description of the coming of the 103 Matt. xxv. 34. Son of man, it is said, the King shall say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you: which title as it secures hope, in respect of his power; as it magnifies our reward, by the excellency of our inheritance; so also it teacheth us the indispensable condition of obedience. Acts vi. 1,7. Acts v. 14 1 Tim. iv. 12. Acts ix. 21. Fourthly, the belief of Jesus the Christ, is necessary to instruct us what it is to be a Christian, and how far we stand obliged by owning that name. Those who did first embrace the faith were styled disciples1, (as when the number of the disciples was multiplied,) or believers, or brethren, or men of the church, or callers upon the name of Christ, or men of the 1 For when our Saviour gave that command to his apostles, Ioрevévтes οὖν μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, Go make all nations disciples, they which delivered the Gospel were μαθητεύον TES, they which were taught it and received it, were at that time μaonTEUGÉVTES, and after by a name habitual, μalŋral, translated by Tertullian discentes, ordinarily discipuli. [De Baptismo, c. 11.] Μαθητής μὲν οὖν ἐστίν, ὡς μανθάνομεν παρ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου, πᾶς ὁ τῷ Κυρίῳ προσερχόμενος, ὥστε ἀκολουθεῖν αὐτῷ, τουτέστιν, ἀκούειν τῶν λόγων αὐτοῦ, πιστεύειν τε καὶ πείθεσθαι αὐτῷ ὡς δεσπότῃ, καὶ βασιλεῖ, καὶ ἰατρῷ, καὶ διδασκάλῳ ἀληθείας, ἐπ ̓ ἐλπίδι ζωῆς αἰωνίου. S. Basil. de Baptism. 1. i. c. i. § 2. [Vol. 11. p. 625 A.] Thus then, in the language of the Scriptures, μαθητεύειν τινά, is to make a disciple; as μαθητεύσαντες ἱκανούς, Acts xiv. 21. μαθητεύειν τινί, to be a disciple; as Joseph of Arimathea, ἐμαθήτευσε τῷ Ἰησοῦ, Matt. xxvii. 57. Ma@nтevonvaι the same; as γραμματεὺς μαθητευθεὶς εἰς τὴν βασιMelav Tŵr oupavŵr, Matt. xiii. 52. Thus μαθητευθῆναι τῷ Κυρίῳ, is often used by St Basil de Baptismate, whose title is: Ὅτι δεῖ πρῶτον μαθητευθῆναι τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ τότε καταξιωθῆναι τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος [Vol. II. p. 624.] according to our Saviour's method. Hence those which were first converted to the faith were called ualŋral, as the disciples of Christ their doctor and master. 2 Οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας, as when Herod stretched forth his hand, kakŵσαί τινας τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας, Acts xii. 1, to mischief some of those which were of the Church. Acts ii. 7. way'; or, by their enemies, Nazarens, and Galilæans. But Acts xxiv. 5. in a short time they gained a name derived from their Saviour, though not from that name of his which signifieth salvation; for, from Christ, they were called Christians. A title so honourable, and of such concernment, that St Luke hath thought fit to mention the city in which that name first was heard. And the disciples were called Christians Acts xi. 26. first at Antioch, as the Scriptures assure us; so named by Euodius the bishop of that place, as ecclesiastical history 1 As when Saul went down to Damascus with a commission: öπws táv τινας εὕρῃ τῆς ὁδοῦ ὄντας ἄνδρας τε καὶ γυναῖκας, δεδεμένους ἀγάγῃ εἰς 'Iepovoaλnu, Acts ix. 2. we translate it, any of this way, when there was no way mentioned to which the pronoun this should have relation; nor is odds in the Greek any more than the way. So when St Paul went to the synagogue at Corinth, divers were hardened and believed not, κακολογοῦντες τὴν ὁδὸν ἐνώπιον τοῦ πλήθους, Acts xix. 9. here we translate it, spake evil of that way; but Beza has left his Articulus pronominis vice fungitur, which he had from Erasmus, and hath otherwise supplied it, male loquentes de via Dei: and the old translation, which in the former had hujus viæ, in this hath simply maledicentes viæ: and certainlyódós is nothing but the way. Again, at Ephesus, éyéveto dè κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν ἐκεῖνον τάραχος οὐκ ὀλίγος περὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ, Acts xix. 23. de via, Vet. Transl. Beza again ob viam Dei, but it is nothing but the way. Thus Felix put off St Paul, dкpißéoτερον εἰδὼς τὰ περὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ, Acts xxiv. 22. till he had a more exact knowledge of the way, Vet. Translat. de via hac; Beza, ad sectam istam. Whereas then the phrase is so simply and so frequently the same, it can be nothing else but the word then in use to signify the religion which the Christians professed. And so some also of the ancients seem to have spoken, as appears by the language of the Melchizedecians: Χριστὸς ἐξελέγη, ἵνα ἡμᾶς καλέσῃ ἐκ πολλῶν ὁδῶν εἰς μίαν ταύτην τὴν γνώσιν,—ἐπειδὴ ἀπέστρεψεν ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ εἰδώλων, καὶ ὑπέδειξεν huîv Thy oôóv, [Epiphan. Hær. lv. 8. vol. 1. p. 474 c.]; and in that description of the Gallican persecution : *Εμειναν δὲ ἔξω οἱ μηδὲ ἴχνος πώποτε πίστεως, μηδὲ αἴσθησιν ἐνδύματος νυμφικοῦ, μηδὲ ἔννοιαν φόβου Θεοῦ σχόντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τῆς ἀναστροφῆς αὐτῶν βλασφημοῦντες τὴν ὁδόν. Euseb. Ηist. 1. v. c. I. 2 St Luke noteth the place, but neither the time when, nor person by whom, this name was given. Tertullian seems to make it as ancient as the reign of Tiberius: 'Tiberius ergo, cujus tempore nomen Christianum in sæculum introivit.' Apol. c. 5. But I conceive, indeed, he speaks not of the name, but of the religion; for so he may well be thought to expound himself, saying soon after: 'Census istius disciplinæ, ut jam edidimus, a Tiberio est. c. 7. However, the name of Christian is not so ancient as Tiberius, nor, as I think, as Caius. Some ancient author in Suidas assures us, that it was first named in the reign of Claudius, when St Peter had ordained Euodius bishop of Antioch. Ιστέον δὲ ὅτι ἐπὶ Κλαυδίου βασιλέως Ρώμης, Πέτρου τοῦ ἀποστόλου χειροτονήσαντος Εὐόδιον ἐν ̓Αντιοχείᾳ, μετωνομάσθησαν οἱ πάλαι λεγόμενοι Ναζηραῖοι καὶ Γαλιλαῖοι, Χριστιανοί. Suid. in Ναξηραίος * and in Χριστιανοί. And Johannes Antiochenus [Malalas] confirms not only the time, but tells us that Euodius the bishop was the author of the name: Καὶ ἐπὶ αὐτοῦ (Κλαυδίου) Χριστιανοὶ ὠνομάσθησαν, * Gaisford rejects the clause under this word. informs us. A name no sooner invented, but embraced by all believers, as bearing the most proper signification of their profession, and relation to the Author and Master whom they served. In which the primitive Christians so much delighted, that before the face of their enemies they would acknowledge no other title but that, though hated, reviled, tormented, martyred for it'. Nor is this name of greater honour to us, than obligation. There are two parts of the seal of the foundation of God, and one of them is this, 2 Tim. i 19. Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. It was a common answer of the ancient martyrs, ‘I am a Christian, and with us no evil is done?' The very name was thought to speak something of emendation3; and whosoever put it on became the better man. Except such reformation accompany our profession, there is no advantage τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐπισκόπου Εὐοδίου προσομιλή 1 As we read of Sanctus, a deacon wicked actions practised secretly by the Christians; yet would not give any other answer to any question, than that he was a Christian. Toraúry ὑποστάσει ἀντιπαρετάξατο αὐτοῖς, ὥστε μήτε τὸ ἴδιον κατειπεῖν ὄνομα, μήτε ἔθνους, μήτε πόλεως ὅθεν ἦν, μήτε εἰ δοῦλος ἢ ἐλεύθερος εἴη· ἀλλὰ πρὸς πάντα τὰ ἐπερωτώμενα ἀπεκρίνατο τῇ 'Ρωμαϊκῇ φωνῇ, Χριστιανός εἰμι. τοῦτο καὶ ἀντὶ ὀνόματος, καὶ ἀντὶ πόλεως, καὶ ἀντὶ γένους, καὶ ἀντὶ παντὸς ἐπαλλήλως ὡμολόγει. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. v. cap. I. The same doth St Chrysostom testify of St Lucian: Ποίας εἶ πατρίδος; Χριστιανός εἰμι, φησι. Τί ἔχεις ἐπιτήδευμα; Χριστιανός εἰμι. Τίνας προγόνους; ὁ δὲ πρὸς ἅπαντα ἔλεγεν, ὅτι Χριστιανός εἰμι. Orat. 75. [§ 3. Vol. II. p. 528 A.] 2 So Blandina in the French persecution : Ἦν αὐτῆς ἀνάληψις καὶ ἀνάπαυσις καὶ ἀναλγησία τῶν συμβαινόντων, τὸ λέγειν ὅτι Χριστιανή εἰμι, καὶ παρ' ἡμῖν οὐδὲν φαῦλον γίνεται. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. v. c. I. 3 Alii quos retro ante hoc nomen vagos, viles, improbos noverant, ex ipso denotant quod laudant, cæcitate odii in suffragium impingunt. Quæ mulier! quam lasciva! quam festiva! quis juvenis! quam lascivus! quam amasius! facti sunt Christiani: ita |